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India’s badminton icon Saina Nehwal clung on to her number three spot in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings. It is pertinent to mention that Saina had dropped to number four spot only recently before moving up a notch last week.
Saina has been having a lacklustre 2013 so far.
She made early exits in the recent Thailand and Djarum Indonesian Open tournaments where she lost in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.
China’s Wang Yihan is ranked second, while her country mate Li Xeurui is ranked number one. Germany’s Juliane Schenk is placed fourth, while Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon is ranked fifth.
India’s top ranked men’s singles player Parupalli Kashyap also stayed put at number 13 spot. It may be worth recalling that the country’s highest men’s singles shuttler has had a sedate 2013.
Barring a quarterfinal finish in the prestigious All England Badminton Championships, Kashyap has had little to show for his efforts.
PV Sindhu, who won the Yonex Malaysian Open – her maiden senior singles crown – and later opted out of the Djaram Indonesian Open, retained her last week’s ranking of 12.
Among the other Indian men, RMV Gurusaidutt stayed put at 22rd.
Same was the case with Ajay Jayaram, who reached the quarterfinals of the Sunrise Indian Open and the Skycity New Zealand Open earlier in the open, who held on to his 24th spot.
Sourabh Varma also retained his last week’s ranking of 37.
B Sai Praneeth is still perched at 40 like last week, while K Srikanth, who won his maiden singles crown last week – cornering glory at the Thailand Open, and Anand Pawar retained their last week’s ranking of 41 and 43 respectively.
HS Pranoy, who recently reached the quarterfinals of the Thailand Open, moved up one spot to be placed 52nd.
Arvind Bhat also advanced one place to be ranked 69th.
Old warhorse Chetan Anand retained his last week’s ranking of 76.
Anup Sridhar slumped fourteen places to be ranked 123rd.
Among the other Indian women, Arundhati Pantawane, who broke in the top-50 last week, fell two spots to be placed 51st.
PC Thulasi advanced one spot to be placed 64th.
Tanvi Lad climbed two places to be perched at 78th position.
Sayali Gokhale moved up a notch to be placed 96th.
